Sermon Cloud

All of Christ

And

All of Grace

By Doug Lipscombe

Good morning. This has been a great blessing to me, to work through this text, reading and studying it and what others have written about it. I will, by God’s grace, attempt to convey this passage’s meaning and its significance to us, the body of Christ at Grace Fellowship Church. Before we get to our main text for this morning, I want to set the context for it in two separate passages…first, turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter three. Our main text will be Ephesians, chapter two, verses 8-10.

But in Genesis, chapter three, beginning in verse one we read…”Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

This morning we will not delve into who ate first, who was responsible, nor who sat there and said nothing! No, in these verses we read the key passage to understanding the condition of our present world. Sin entered the world when man decided what was best for himself (“ye shall be as gods”) rather than believing and obeying God, and at the core of man’s fall was the lie of a man-centered approach to life versus a God-centered one.

Satan basically said this, “God is not good, He is holding out on you. In the day you partake you will be like him. If you’re like him then He doesn’t rule over you anymore. You can reign on your own. His will is holding you in bondage.” That lie plunged man into a true bondage to sin and darkness that continues to this day; but God, in His mercy, saves men out of that. This brings us to our main text for this morning, turn with me to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter two…instead of beginning in verse eight, I think we should begin in verse one to set the second context, Paul writes …

“1 And you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

According to Matthew Henry, “We who were dead are quickened (v. 5), we are saved from the death of sin and have a principle of spiritual life implanted in us. Grace in the soul is a new life in the soul. As death locks up the senses, seals up all the powers and faculties, so does a state of sin, as to any thing that is good. Grace unlocks and opens all, and enlarges the soul. Observe, A regenerate sinner becomes a living soul: he lives a life of sanctification, being born of God; and he lives in the sense of the law, being delivered from the guilt of sin by pardoning and justifying grace.” Now let’s take a deeper look at verses eight through ten.

“For by grace…” What is grace? In the Greek, charis, according to Strong’s, is the good will, the loving-kindness, and the favor or merciful kindness by which God (not man!), exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues. Grace is the fountain-head, the well-spring and faith is the channel, the conduit through which the pure river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In John chapter four verse fourteen Jesus says, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

“are ye saved…” Paul says this twice in this chapter and he uses the present perfect tense, meaning it is something that is complete and is done. "Ye are saved." Or “are ye saved” is present tense. Not "ye shall be," or "ye may be"; but "ye are saved." Notice this also, he does not say, "Ye are partly saved," nor "in the process of being saved," nor "hopeful of salvation"; but "by grace are ye saved." Let us be as clear on this and let us never rest till we know that we are saved. At this very moment we are either saved or unsaved. That is clear. So God saves us by grace and we see the channel through which God brings this salvation to us… faith. And now we also see how God has not saved us. It is not as a result of works.

There are basically two ways for people to be saved. Either people do it on God's terms or their own. So let's look first at salvation: the man-centered way. Most commonly people try to earn salvation by good works. They think that by doing enough good works they can counterbalance the scale on which their bad works are weighed. If they end up with more good works than bad works, everything will work out, so to speak. Many people buy into this concept. To our 21^st century, egalitarian-educated natures, it makes sense. It plays into our concepts of justice and fairness. It is logic like this and imagining that God must play by our rules that is the lie.

The problem is that we are dealing with eternal things in a dimension and in a place where we have no jurisdiction. We are not dealing with breaking someone's favorite piece of china, saying “oops, I’m sorry” and paying for a replacement. We are dealing with the eternal death of our very souls. And that cannot be prevented or be mended by doing “nice things”. According to verses one through seven, we were born with a sin nature. We are dead, disobedient, depraved, and doomed. It takes more than a few “good” works to clean up this mess. What is needed is a total and complete spiritual transformation.

Seeing that fact, some redirect their good works into a spiritual arena. They try to save themselves by religious rituals or works. They substitute religious ceremonies for ordinary good works. They think that if they get baptized they will be saved. Or they think that if they are confirmed they will be saved. Or they think they will be saved by the sacraments. Or they think that they will be saved by joining the church. But these are merely other forms of good works. They are religious works. And, in many ways, they are the most subtle and damning of all. Because they are religious, they have a “spiritual” air about them. They deceive people into believing that since they are engaging in church-approved activities, God will approve of them and accept their “works” as atonement for our sins.

By allowing people to join the church or to be welcomed into the body of Christ in a casual way, just walking down the aisle and taking the pastor’s hand or without questioning them thoroughly about their salvation, churches have ended up with many who are not truly converted. They are not only not Christians, they are deceived because they have been accepted by the church. They are eternally damned through the very church that should have led them to Christ before welcoming them into the body of believers. We do people no favors by being timid about our faith or theirs. We must find out whether people are trusting religious works or Christ for their salvation. A true Christian is never ashamed to give testimony to that fact. If someone is offended by your asking if they know Jesus, there is something wrong. They may not know Jesus at all. They may be trusting in religious rituals. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23 concerning their religious “works”. Beginning in verse twenty-five he said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.[Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” In the end, all our attempts at good works are as it is written in the book of Isaiah, chapter 64 and verse six, “But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” And as Paul writes in Romans chapter three, verses ten thru twelve, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” So the sum total of all our works add up to less than zero when compared to a holy God.

The second reason that God gives why His salvation is not as a result of works is that no one should boast. None of us can say, "I saved myself." Or “I made a decision to follow Jesus.” We must all come to Jesus at the same level. We must all come to Jesus in the same way. No matter what our education, station in life, title, degree, riches, or ability, we must all come in humility, acknowledging our need for Christ.

This leads us to look at salvation: the God-centered way.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Jesus said in John 10:9, " I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." In the verse immediately prior to this He said, " All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." Jesus plainly says He is the only way. There is one shepherd and He is that shepherd. There is one door and He is that door. If you go through that door you will be saved. Any other door will not lead to salvation. Jesus is consistent because on another occasion He states in John 14:6: "… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." So, there is a God’s way, and there is man’s way. It is all of Christ and all of grace. “Ye shall be as gods” versus “By grace….”

Because God knew that we could not earn our way to heaven and we could not provide that sinless, spotless sacrifice to atone for our sins, He provided the only way, His way, His shepherd, and His door. As we have been studying in Hebrews, chapter ten verses fourteen to twenty-five states clearly, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. [Whereof] the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these [is, there is] no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And [having] an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

There is one and only one way and He is that way and He has paid the price and redeemed His people. HALLELUJAH!!! As I stated earlier, the channel through which the grace of God comes to us is faith. But what is faith?

Faith is not merely head knowledge. Sometimes we think we can exhort people to faith by telling them to just believe that Jesus walked on the earth. Indeed, the words believe and faith are used to refer to the same thing. I believe that George Washington walked on the earth, but I don’t believe he is my Savior. Biblical faith is not knowledge about Christ.

True biblical faith is not sentiment or feelings either. Many people equate faith with feelings. Feelings are not faith. As fickle and temporary as feelings are, we must not base our faith on them. We once visited a church that began with little emotion, but as the music took on a strident beat and as the pastor exhorted the congregation to believe, the feelings of the congregation began to be elicited and suddenly they were crying out in loud voices and jumping around.

One of the basic elements of faith is trust. Faith begins with knowledge and there is a certain level of understanding about Christ that we must have. We must know that He died on the Cross for our sins, that He paid the penalty there to purchase our salvation. But then we must trust in Him as the only hope we have for salvation. Again in Hebrews, chapter 11, verse six we read, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Faith begins with knowledge but culminates in commitment. We must diligently seek him and then trust Christ with our lives. Why?...

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

The reason for the statement of verses 8-9 is now given, i.e., we are God's workmanship, created unto good works. Paul is saying, it is not by our works but that we are His workmanship. The term refers to God's creation work. Believers are God's work created for the purpose of performing good works. Notice we are created unto good works, i.e., God has sovereignly created believers for the purpose of being a distinctive creation, dedicated to good works. The Greek term ergon (translated work,) is any effort made and involves every area of life. It includes all the activities of life, all the efforts a man makes, not only on Sunday, but on every day of the week; not just here at church…but…in our homeschools, at the office, or any time we are at home or in the public eye. God in His sovereignty has ordained (which in Greek, proatoimazo, means to prepare beforehand) these specific, intrinsically good efforts. He has determined that His elect should walk through life doing intrinsically good efforts not for our glory but for His glory. All of life is lived coram Deo , i.e., before the face of God or under His providential control. The desire, the ability and the opportunity to perform good works are all from God. No wonder there is no boasting, for all is of God, all is of Christ and all is of His grace. So how is it with you, is it “Ye shall be as gods” or is it “By grace….”? My prayer is that it is all of Christ and all of Grace.

Let us pray…LORD, may we have that childlike faith to believe and trust in your redeeming love for us. We who do not deserve the gift are blessed immeasurably. We pray that we will live our lives coram Deo and give you soli Deo Gloria, to God Alone be the Glory! In Jesus name. Amen.